


If I kiss you where it's sore

by risinggreatness



Series: Circle 'round the sun [109]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Non-Graphic Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-16 00:24:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3467540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/risinggreatness/pseuds/risinggreatness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love is hard when you’re young, especially for Jedi (not EU compliant)</p>
            </blockquote>





	If I kiss you where it's sore

Things fall apart and they don’t fit back together the way they used to.

They both try to ignore it, but after Set returns from home ( _returns to home_ ) and Iella gives him space, something’s missing.

It hurts how it doesn’t.

“Is it time to let go?” she asks one night after.

Set nods.

( _He knows she stays there long after he walks away._ )

\----------

Iella’s happy with Aarrom. She looks like she did when she and Set began.

He smiles at her when they pass in the halls, in a rare overlap back at the Temple as some of its newest knights.

She smiles back broadly.

They are friends again.

( _He has other things: evenings with the Skywalkers and Solos, meditation, visits with mama and papa, working on being a better Jedi for the New Order._ )

Everything’s okay.

\----------

“And don’t stir up any trouble. I don’t want to hear one of my knights and padawans incited these criminals into more drastic action,” Ahsoka leaves her final warning then heads down the ramp.

Set breathes out shakily, nerves starting to get the better of him.

“Were the pirates really that terrifying when you spotted them?” Zelda asks, one eyebrow raised.

“Uh, no,” Set swallows.

Truthfully, he’s worried about watching out for a padawan that isn’t his.

Zelda can’t be more than a few years younger than him, plus he only has about four years before he takes on Pres – Leia never rescinded his childish request. ( _Neither did he._ )

Zelda nods, disguising her nerves about the mission behind bravado better than he’s hiding his anxiety about responsibility – not that he isn’t worried about the pirates too.

In the pilot’s seat, Set has, at least, some assurance that there is something he’ll know how to handle in the time ( _almost_ ) alone.

“So Master Skywalker was yours?” she asks, in a stilted attempt at conversation.

“Yeah.”

Nothing else.

Set’s used to padawans whispering behind their hands after his answer about Darth Vader, but knowing Luke or Leia, how could they think anything like that? ( _And in the end, Vader vanishes quickly for all of them._ )

Now it’s his turn, and talking defrays nerves.

“How come Master Kennan isn’t taking you out on this expedition?”

“Because,” she punctuates her words sharply, “He had coordinating to do with Master Chase and you were already headed this way.”

Set raises both his eyebrows, dragging out, “Okay.”

Clearly Zelda is as frustrated with the arrangement as he is.

A lot more silence follows in the coming hours.

\----------

Third day out.

“When did you make it to the Temple?” he asks, fighting boredom with the manners mama tried so hard to instill in him.

“Later than you.”

Exasperated, “Well, obviously –”

“I mean I got a late start. Master Judarrl came sometime between the Mandalorian conflicts, but my mother refused him.”

Set looks at Zelda with renewed interest. They could have been padawans together.

“But you’re here,” he states the obvious, if a little bewildered.

“I had so many fights with her, even though I was just a kid and her reasons always won in the end. I was too young; my brother couldn’t be left alone since he was even younger; we weren’t doing well selling our catch…”

Zelda trails off, Set fills in awkwardly.

“I think, I remember seeing them back at the Temple once.”

She nods, not really listening.

“What finally convinced her?”

Zelda clicks her tongue against her teeth.

“She never got over the fact that my dad was caught in the crossfires of a skirmish towards the end of the civil war. Blamed the Alliance as much as the Empire.

Set sees how it would be awkward for a woman to send her child into the hands of those she blamed for her husband’s death.

“But after the war with Mandalore, something changed. I kept arguing I could help protect her and Jax, and I think she believed me.”

“Probably still does.”

With an agitated edge, “Of course she does.”

Set blushes, embarrassed he said something so obvious.

“Not everyone had instantly compliant families, but plenty of us got here.”

Set bites down on his tongue, then softly, “I’m glad you all finally did.”

\----------

Set and Zelda meet again shortly before her trials. Her face is drawn and tired; her shoulders are drooped.

“It won’t be too bad, honestly,” he tries to encourage. He felt the same way before; after, it seemed ridiculous that Luke would let him fail. Master Kennan has done the same for Zelda.

“It’s not that!” she snaps; Set takes a step back. “Sorry, sorry. It is my trials, a little bit.”

Set waits for the rest of her answer. When it doesn’t come, he supplies, “But?”

“But I’m mostly worried about my mother and Jax. They’re all by themselves.”

Set’s shoulders pull back, tense. He wishes he could go back to Stewjon; reports of fighting are too close. ( _But he has responsibilities: here, with his other family, where Pres, Bee, Sam, and Shmi are all too small understand._ )

“You can’t go back for a little bit?” Set tries to sound cheerful; helpful.

Zelda frowns skeptically. No, of course she can’t, no more than he can go back to mama and papa. He serves them better here from the hub of the Republic, where he can move fast and effectively.

“Right, right,” Set sighs. “Well, good luck on your trials, although you don’t need it.”

He encourages a small smile. Zelda, in spite of herself, smiles back.

\----------

Set sends Pres back to his parents, eyebrows knit in concern. He must have been in the meditation room for some time, when Zelda knocks shoulders with him.

“How’s the Jedi Master thing working out for you?” she asks playfully, something Set isn’t really feeling himself.

Irritated, in spite of the meditation, “Not great. I’m hoping I wasn’t this difficult for Luke and Leia.”

“Being General Solo’s kid giving him a bit of an ego?”

“No,” Set begins slowly. “He expects a lot of himself. We all do, but there’s all that pressure he’s imagining from above, and it doesn’t help that it looks like his sisters will be prodigies.”

“He’ll come around,” Zelda reminds him gently.

“I hope so.”

His tone is disbelieving, but there’s faith, deep down somewhere in Set that Pres will be more than exemplary.

Turning on Zelda, assuming the teasing manner she took earlier, “And when are you thinking about getting a padawan of your own to keep you awake at night?”

Sarcastically, “Har har. I like my free and independent knight status far too much to take on a student.”

“Well, not everyone’s teacher material.”

“Shut up,” she lightly shoves him, though none of her good-natured mood is let up.

Neither is Set’s restored attitude for that matter.

\----------

They’re all pretty drunk, if the gaggle of Jedi were willing to admit it. ( _A sight the old Order could have done without: the New Order’s best and brightest about to puke on memorials to those passed._ )

They stumble around, falling into smaller pairs.

Set and Zelda find themselves tripping into one of the small ships. Set collapses into the pilot’s seat, to stop the world from spinning even faster.

“How fast do you think you could make – out to Ryloth?” Set dares her, hiccupping.

“Faster than you,” she retorts.

“Let’s see.”

She stumbles, collapsing on top of him.

Set knows what Zelda’s palms feel like in his, but arms are a new sensation, as his fingers catch under her robe sleeves. He didn’t realize how incredible it would feel and it’s as though he’s wide awake and sober.

Zelda’s close and seems to make no attempt to move, relishing in the proximity and touch. If anything, she’s moving closer.

“Zel,” he whispers, nearly inaudible to himself, but terribly loud to her.

Pulling away quickly, standing up straight, and brushing herself off, Zelda’s the perfect model of sobriety.

“Sorry,” is all she manages before running off the ship.

Set’s left all by himself.

\----------

Zelda avoids him when they’re at the Temple. Pretty soon, Set deliberately avoids her too.

What happened? Where did they go wrong?

He knew where he stood when Iella broke it off. There wasn’t anything to break off with Zelda.

( _Except there was: their friendship, the camaraderie on missions, laughing at each other’s stupid jokes, grabbing a caf when they had an hour on Coruscant._ )

He still sees Iella, happy and content with her daughter.

He never sees Zelda anymore.

\----------

It must be getting bad, because he can sense Luke and Leia making pointed looks ( _and almost certainly pointed comments_ ) at each other. Even Mara’s being too generous and won’t tell him to get a grip.

“How come you and Master Zelda don’t talk anymore?” Pres asks just as they pull out into space, on their way back from a mission. “You were friends, right?”

Sighing, “That’s the problem.”

“Oh. Did you like her?”

Though absent of the teasing drag of ‘like,’ Pres’s use of the word reminds Set his student’s still a kid. But he’s hit alarmingly close to the truth, and Set’s always tried to be honest with him.

“Yeah, I did – I do.”

“Are you gonna say something?”

“Sure, I’ll tell her I was taking advice from my padawan. That’ll convince her.”

Set leans over the seat and grabs Pres in a loose headlock; Pres only half-struggles to escape.

There is a rush of wind when they return to the Temple. As fate would have it, Zelda’s there working on repairs.

Pres gives Set thumbs up; Set waves him off.

“What was that all about?” Zelda half-laughs at Pres’s refusal to leave entirely. Set shoots him a warning look, and he finally scurries.

She pulls herself up from under the ship; Set doesn’t offer her a hand.

“Nothing. I mean, not nothing.”

“Right.”

And like that, they’re back to the lengthening silence they’ve come to expect from each other, the minute of normality ( _hardly their normal anymore_ ) vaporized into nothing.

Zelda offers tentatively, “So what did your padawan want from me that you’ve been sent over to retrieve?”

Set snaps before he can stop himself, “Damn it, it has nothing to do with him!”

Zelda takes a step back and Set feels worse, but he can’t stop now.

“What do you want, Zel? We were friends and then I fucked up because I thought there was more and now we can’t even stand to look at each other. I’d gladly take it back if we could go back –”

Quickly interjecting, “You weren’t wrong; I just figured I was moving too fast and had to leave. Set, I want so much more for us. I want you.”

Her last words are said with the utmost tenderness. Set might as well have been dunked in ice water.

Quietly, “Can we start over?”

“No,” and with that, Set finds himself up against the side of the ship, Zelda’s tools clattering to the ground.

\----------

Mara invites Set to dinner a few weeks later.

It’s nice and reminds Set of when he was much younger and it was the four of them. The conversation lulls and he’s content, leaning back slightly in his chair.

That’s when he’s flanked.

“I know it’s none of my business,” Luke starts.

“Because it isn’t,” Mara reminds him firmly.

Oh no. Set doesn’t like where this is going.

Luke raises and eyebrow and goes on anyway, “But what’s this we’re hearing about you and Zelda Novarr?”

“Um,” is the best Set can do.

“I like her,” Shmi chirps up.

“And I trust your opinion,” Set nods, half-joking, but still sincere.

“Thank you for getting the answer out of him,” says Luke.

“Hey!” Shmi protests at being used, but the rest of them, even Set can’t help but laughing at her indignation. Shmi eventually cracks a giggle.

“So you did finally stop fighting?” Mara asks, once the laughter’s died down.

“We weren’t really fighting,” Set says, the simplest answer to a mess he hasn’t even fully figured out.

“I know that,” Mara sighs a little wearily.

“Now personal lives are up for discussion?” Luke asks, although good-naturedly.

“We’re happy for you,” Mara cuts back to Set warmly, effectively ending whatever run that was going down.

As he readies to return to the Temple, leftovers firmly in hand, Shmi gives him a quick hug from the side. He gives her a peck on top of her head.

“We – I am really happy you are.”

“Thanks, kiddo.”

\----------

In the sweaty aftermath of the training room late at night, Zelda rolls off Set, both of them still breathing heavily.

Set dares the question that’s been circling in his mind for months.

“Do we want to get married?”

Zelda laughs shortly, “Why the need?”

Set shrugs noncommittally, “Everyone else seems to be doing it.”

“We’re happy, right?” she asks, massaging his closest arm. “Neither of us are particularly interested in kids of our own, not that that’s a reason to get married. And it’s not like the Jedi consider living together unwed some great sin.” Slowly, “Unless that’s how they raised you on Stewjon.”

“It would be frowned on, but we wouldn’t be kicked out of the village or anything. I just thought we could have something – I guess for my parents to meet you, if nothing else.”

He feels guilty with how little he gets back to them and the last time they came to Coruscant was for his induction. They don’t know Zelda and for as little a part they are of his life now, he needs them to know her.

Zelda chews on her lower lip, “And it would be good excuse to get mother and Jax here again…”

Set shifts onto his side, guilt spilling into his gut.

“I don’t want us to do this for the wrong reason. I definitely don’t want to guilt you into it.”

Zelda laughs quietly, “You cannot guilt me into anything, Set Tane.”

He leans forward to kiss her, much softer than the last.

“Just don’t expect me to change my name.”

Now it’s Set’s turn to laugh, “That was the last thing on my mind, Zel, honestly.

“Good. Then it’s settled.”

They go back for a second round.

\----------

Zelda’s mother is not as dour as in her stories, but her brother is every bit as excitable as she’s recounted.

At the reception, mama pulls on Set’s arm.

“What is it?”

“She’s a lovely girl, good family too. I can see you’re going to make each other very happy.”

Even as an adult, Set feels his cheeks flush.

“Thanks, mama.”

She seems to pull her shoulders back before what she says next.

“And Kier sends his well-wishes.”

Set pulls away and scoffs.

“Set, don’t. You didn’t invite him and he knows better than to come, but he does want you to be happy. And I’m sure you want the same for him as well.”

Set doubts it, but his mother might be right.

“Tell him ‘thank you,’” he says finally, if a little stiffly. If he tries to think about it more, he might cry. ( _Although crying at one’s own wedding isn’t the strangest thing._ )

“Good boy. Now are you _sure_ you and Zelda aren’t going to make me a happy grandma?”

She says it more teasing than hopeful, which eases the strain on Set’s heart some.

“Sorry to be a disappointment to you and papa there.”

Mama pats his back, “You aren’t a disappointment, not even close. Look at the incredible life you’ve made here. Now you have it with Zelda.”

Set tells himself he and Zelda must make it out to the farm soon.

**Author's Note:**

> See author bio for discussion on this 'verse.


End file.
